During a recent survey the top 5 ways for meeting people for dating were concluded. The #1 way people met other people for dating or relationships was through friends. This has been the #1 method for some years now. The new #2 was via online dating sites. From there you have places like church, bars, etc. I hate to tell you all this but Social Networking sites didn't make the list.

Let's look at the WHY behind this though. There are some elements to "why" this could very well be the case. When someone joins an online dating site #1 they are joining with the intent on meeting someone for whatever type of relationship they are after. #2 The spend their time and efforts investing in writing their profile, uploading pictures, doing survey questions...etc. for the purpose of meeting someone. Their "intent" and also their "investment" are important here.

When someone joins a site like Facebook they are joining with the intent to keep up with friends, family, and maybe makes some new friends. They are investing time in it for a different reason altogether. Meeting new people to date when someone joins Facebook is probably not even on their top 10 reasons for joining. Those of us who've been at online dating with PUA for a while know that meeting people on MySpace had similar results.

The reasons that people join these two types of sites are very different. Which is typically why we can get some people to talk to us via online social networking sites but why they don't overall convert to dates, even for some of those that get numbers. Ultimately she didn't join the site to meet a guy. That reason "why" resonates in her when she goes to meet up with a guy too. She knows that its not as common to meet some random guy from Facebook and its definitely not as socially acceptable.

Speaking of what socially acceptable... I was meeting people online in the early 2000s when there were barely any online dating sites and things like Yahoo or MSN personals dominated the scene. Even then in college this was pretty taboo and no one really talked about meeting people that way.

Now, those personal sites have been purchased by sites like Match.com. We have dating website ads on TV and it's now the #2 most common way to meet people. In just 10 years it has gone from Taboo to the #2 way most people meet for a relationship. However that includes just dating websites not social networking sites.

What is socially acceptable definitely can drive someone's decisions. This is even used as a marketing solution as well. How many of you have heard things like "4 out of 5 dentists agree Colgate toothpaste is the best..." What is socially acceptable definitely drives part of our behaviour, and things that aren't socially acceptable also drives our behaviour.

Facebook recognizes the fact that its hard to meet people on their site for dating even to the extent that they are now offering apps via Facebook that link back into dating site databases to make it easier for their users.

The way Facebook can work for you to meet new people is if they are already friends of your friends. This goes back to the #1 way to meet people. This process can work very well. In fact you probably can use this very well for you.

I won't say that you can't meet stranger on social networking sites and convert them into dates. You can, but the odds are against you vs using a site specifically for online dating based on reasons above. Social networking sites are a great way to meet new people, but not so much a great way to meet new people for dating.

I hope this post helps to open a lot of eyes as to way they aren't getting the results they want from the social networking giant.

Jon

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Been around the world twice, Talked to everyone once...

good post, gone are the days of Myspace where adding random people and getting a connection or two out of it.

Good post man, makes sense. Now that I think about it, regardless of how attractive a profile is that randomly adds me, I usually deny, assuming its some bullshit.

To sum things up to why facebook sucks in meeting people for dating/relationships is that its a social network site not a dating site. People are there for a different reason and such have a different mindset when on the site.

Its not even useful for meeting people anymore. Today, a guy told me he's not looking to make friends online.